2020 was a crazy year, so what better way to ring in 2021, than with a positive Covid-19 test.
And before you say something uninformed about "superspreader events, "not wearing a mask," or "not social distancing," let me set the record straight.
I have been home since March 2020. I've had three lunches out with a friend. I went once to the dentist. I drive thru Starbucks. All of my groceries and needs are delivered. And I have been diligently cleaning and keeping a tight family circle. In that tight family circle, quite a few others tested positive, but didn't transmit to me. And I did not transmit to them.
Furthermore.... biology college degree.
Microbiology classes.
Virology.
Immunology.
I am OCD.
And I believe all of the public campaigns have fallen short when they say "wash your hands." That's not enough. Clean your bathroom. Clean the doorknobs, every day. Change your clothes. Don't touch the gas pump without gloves. Shower after work exposure. Decontaminate. Immediately clean your hands and surfaces after opening mail, packages, food delivery. Don't live in fear, but live with knowledge.
Mr B is an essential worker according to the State of Ohio. Even though you might say, he can fix a tear in a perforated leather seat in a classic car and what's essential about that, he also repairs windshields and other parts of cars, trucks, airplanes, and boats that are essential for commerce.
My family is full of essential workers. My family has had three Covid instances now, and we have not passed it to each other. In every case, everyone stayed home and quarantined. I also quarantined for two weeks when my tax lawyer tested positive.
At one of Mr B's car lots, a manager who signs off on his invoices, tested positive about 5 days before we had symptoms. Masks, distance aside, it's likely the source of our illness. That very nice man was sick at home for a week and has been in the hospital for almost two weeks more. He's 35. You just don't know how your own body will react to it.
Mr B and I believe that he had Covid in early 2020, before it had a name. He is highly prone to lung issues in the winter-- worsened by asthma. We were waiting for the antibody test to prove it, but that OTC test wasn't quite ready when we got sick in late December 2020/January 2021.
I've heard people say, it's like the flu or it's just the flu. I think for most people, that's true. For me, it wasn't. I had a sinus headache (no congestion) and nausea. For me, it was like most of the food allergy reactions that I have. Except for the exhaustion. I slept A LOT. And for those who know me, that's highly unusual for me. On any other day, I would never have thought I had Covid.
Mr B did have more of the flu-like illness. He had a 6-day fever, chills, muscle aches, cough, and exhaustion. It wasn't too much worse for him than any of the times where he had bronchitis, although, the media hype makes everything think they are going to die, so there's the mind game.
In our limited experience, Covid hit our "weak spots" and took hold for awhile. For me, that's always been sinuses and nausea. For him, that's always been lungs, intestines, and muscles.
I'm a big believer in vaccines. My first husband almost died in 1989 when he contracted the measles during an outbreak at OSU. He was on a ventilator and almost didn't make it. He was one of a group of people found to have had the immunizations, but the booster was not effective. I was just enough younger than him that my booster was effective (a different batch). Our daughter was only three months old and contracted the measles from her dad, but it's a childhood disease, and she was hardly effected by it.
Mr B and I have flu vaccines each year. That might have helped us with Covid. The jury's still out on that science.
Mr B may have had it in January of 2020, so we may have already had some natural immunity to it. That science isn't determined yet, either, but if true, it would have likely lessened the symptoms in round 2.
Immediately after our positive tests, we were registered by our doctor for an experimental treatment called monoclonal antibody infusion. It's an infusion of proteins that bind up the virus to render it inert (very simplified explanation). I hope that the two of us contributed to some immune system boosting research that will help others. In my opinion, it did help us feel better in fewer days than the natural course of the illness.
Now I will move to the more controversial statements, so stop reading if you are afraid of everything in the universe and tend to wring your hands at home.
This can be deadly, however, it's more likely deadly if you have conditions that have weakened you.
We take vitamins every day including zinc, Vitamin D, and multivitamins.
People with overactive immune systems like mine (highly reactive to things), are likely going to fight it better. Unproven as of yet, but it's my belief.
We will likely find that genetics plays a role here. It's likely a very specific role that determines severity. I know 19 people so far who have tested positive with NO symptoms. What most likely accounts for that is genetics and/or immune system health.
Our economy needs to reopen. I know that is controversial to some. And some of you will say.... YOU survived, so YOU want to open the economy. That's not true. This virus and other types of viruses in this world are still around. Some people die from these virus outbreaks every year. Covid-19 will continue to mutate. Scientists will need to choose strands each year based on predictions. We are going to live with this for our lifetime.
What we cannot live with in our lifetime is all of the other things that happen as a result of the economic shutdown.
Eviction.
Foreclosure.
Homelessness.
Poverty.
Child abandonment and abuse.
Substance abuse.
Overdoses.
Depression and other mental illnesses.
Lost businesses.
Bankruptcies.
All of these traumas will have an impact for generations. Epigenetics is the study of the modification of gene expression rather than just a modification in genetic code. In the future we will likely see the impact of this trauma and modification of gene expression in our children's children.
In addition, I CAN work at home and have for 25 years. Not everyone has skills or a trade that allow that. And those people are suffering. Not everyone is collecting a pension and can just remove themselves from life.
It's elitist for those of us who CAN stay home without financial consequences to tell others who CANNOT that they have to do so.
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